Qu'est-ce qu'il a dit?

Today in an interpretation class (or oral translation as it is called here), I had a fantastic idea for an entry and as you already know, it is best to grasp up good ideas with all force and develop them. So here goes...

When I arrived in France, I really missed having had learned (or at least knowing) interesting expressions and 'street talk', slang so to speak. Of course that's how people spoke. They said something and you felt stupid. So here goes a list of expressions that I have been learning throughout the year (and I suppose that I will add more as I remember them and if anyone knows any and wants to share them then they are welcome too! ).

• First of all, the verb apprendre in French. As the majority of you already know, this verb means 'to learn' as well as 'to teach'. So be careful because it is one of those false friends that can make you look ridiculous or put you in uncomfortable situations. For example, Il faut que tu m'apprennes ça means 'You have to teach me this'.
• Now the expression 'c'est de la honte' which means 'that's shameful. It is always good to know.
• Whilst 'chatting': jivé (j'y vais) means 'I'm out of here'. Pask-eh (parce que) effectively means 'because'. BB (bébé) means baby. Seh (c'est) means this is.
• C'est chiant, ça fait chier. This expression comes from the verb chier which means 'to shit' and also means something along the lines of 'it's annoying.
• Now for my favourite: TRUC! This word is the passe-partout of French. In principle, it means 'thing' and you can use it in a thousand different expressions: 'C'était un truc vraiment difficile' (speaking about an exam), 'On a acheté ce truc"... . It seems absurd but the truth is that you can use it for anything and personally, as soon as I arrived I didn't hear anything but 'truc, truc, truc' everywhere and I didn't understand anything.
• C'est un truc débile: which means a foolishness. For example, 'j'ai fait un truc vraiment débile", would mean 'I have done something foolish. '
• C'est marron : which comes from 'c'est marrant' or in other words amusing or funny.
• Je m'en fous : comes from the verb 'foutre' which means 'f**k'. This particular expression means 'I don't care, I couldn't care less', but there are many more. Va te faire foutre: F**k you, go f**k yourself. Je vais envoyer tout faire foutre, j’envoie tout foutre en l’air: 'Got to hell'. Je me fous de ta guele: to take the piss out of someone.
• Va t’emmerde, va te faire enculer: 'Go f**k yourself' and 'get stuffed' respectively
• Ça me soûle, ça me gave, ça me gonfle, j’en ai ma claque, j’en ai marre, j’en peut plus, je me lâche, j'en ai ras le cul, j'en ai ras le bol, je m'enerve: all of this expressions meant to say 'I am fed up, I'm tired', along with others with other little precisions.
• Bordel, putain: Very common expressions which mean 'f**k! '. For example, “Putain, c’est chiant ce truc' means 'F**k, this is a pain in the ass'. However 'bordel' is also used as 'mess': 'C’est un bordel ici quoi! ' means 'What a mess there is here! '. As you can see in this last example 'quoi' is also used as 'or what'. Next onto the word which par excellence is almost the same in nearly every language and that we all know: 'merde', which means 'shit'
• Ferme ta gueule, ta gueule, ferme-la! : Expressions more or less the same to invite someone to shut their damn mouth.
• Mec, meuf: All those who have studied French know that there exists a marvelous dialect known as verlan, in which they flip the words over and not quite content with this, go back to flip it again to form a new word which comes to mean the same as the previous one, only written in a completely different way. Mec is man, meuf is woman, as well as flics being the police.



Source

• Tu rigoles toi quoi? : You can say this is you want to say 'are you kidding or what? ' For example, “T’as beaucoup étudié pour cet examen? – Tu rigoles toi quoi? ” meaning Have you studied much for this exam? - Are you kidding or what? ' (I put these examples because they are topical issues among Erasmus :P).
• Un truc de ouf (fou), un truc de dingue: 'Something crazy'.

  Ouf is again my dear friends, another gift of verlan.

• Con, conne, connard, conneries: tw*t or c**t.
• An addition from today after having a beer with some French people: la capote which means to say 'a condom' for those a bit more cheeky. :P
• Another addition: 'Violar'. Yes a delicate and unpleasant theme but it never hurts to know and besides, it is curious how the French say it. In English we would say 'she was raped and it French it would be "Elle s'est faite violer".
• Casse-toi! : Go away!
• Tu parles! : Who are you trying to kid?
• Ok, tu sors: is French for 'okay, you'll manage'.
• In order (apologies) to curse someone's entire family in one go: la con de ta race, la con de ta mère, la con de tes morts or otherwise, je te pisse à la raie.
• To insult a girl, there is always the international pute, but there are also other diamonds such as pouffiasse (shortened to pouf), connasse, salope...
• To say that you don't care about something: j'en ai rien à foutre, j'en ai rien à carrer, je m'en fous je m'en tartine la raie, je m'en bats les cuilles...
• And finally, to say that someone is 'right on your arse': il m'encole au cul derrière moi.

Here I have done some a small summary but for those interested, I just just found a super website: http://www.keskiladi.com/

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